Queen named 'Greatest British band of all time' Tuesday Jan 2 11:53 AEDT The flamboyant rock group Queen has upstaged the Beatles to win the title of "Greatest British Band of All Time" in a vote organized by BBC Radio.

Queen garnered 400 more votes than the Beatles when more than 20,000 listeners were asked to choose from among five bands that also included the Rolling Stones, Take That and Oasis.

The five emerged from a list of thousands of nominations.

Each group was judged on song-writing, lyrics, live performances, originality and showmanship during a three-hour show in which people voted by email, text and phone.

The Rolling Stones came third in the vote, followed by Oasis in fourth and Take That in fifth.

A BBC spokesman said the vote for Queen had been boosted by a celebrity nomination from teen favourites McFly, who said they had been inspired by the rockers.

Queen, led by their iconic frontman Freddie Mercury who died from an AIDS-related illness in 1991, released a string of hits through the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.